How do I convince my IT boss to get a Mac for Web design

[ezekielrage_99]

Do a Cost Benefit Analysis and SWOT diagram, it looks impressive also it will tell your bosses in very simple terms what the real advantage is over PC.

I did that at my work and now I have a Mac Pro.

 

[nimbuscloud]

Do a Cost Benefit Analysis and SWOT diagram, it looks impressive also it will tell your bosses in very simple terms what the real advantage is over PC.

I did that at my work and now I have a Mac Pro.

Please give me an example. What does "SWOT" mean?

Thanks for the great advice!

Edit: Just Googled SWOT, thanks again! But can you tell me some of the goodies that you told your boss, that is if you remember it.

 

[jng]

Have you ever used the Windows version? Its night and day. The features are more or less the same but the GUI is much better in Windows. Its a lot faster, less buggy, and just much more pleasant to use. It feels like a modern professional program instead of some crappy freeware. Flash used to suffer the same fate, but Adobe made huge changes to update it on the Mac. Its just too bad they didnt do the same to Dreamweaver since it still has the same horrid UI its had for years.

The single PC where I work crashes so often (not to mention the fact that it's slow as molasses) that I avoid it when possible. So I haven't looked extensively at it. I remember vaguely that it was the same (to me) but this was back in CS1. Haven't bothered updating that slug to CS3.

Textmate does all that and a whole lot more. The only thing dreamweaver has over textmate is FTP capabilities (I prefer SVN) and inline error checking (I prefer firebug + tidy). Other than that, Textmate is much faster, and far more powerful as an editor.

I've just checked out the website. Thanks for the info. I've actually never used it before or really heard much about it. I've tried BBEdit and a couple of other free things, but never Textmate. I think I'll download it and give it a try.

 

[Fairly]

Professional != corporate. Professional simply means you're using these tools as part of your job and your work (or even your job) depends on them working.

OK but TextMate aside I can't see professionals using Transmit. Unless there's nothing better. I don't know enough about that software type but I just can't see it. But OK.

 

[radiantm3]

OK but TextMate aside I can't see professionals using Transmit. Unless there's nothing better. I don't know enough about that software type but I just can't see it. But OK.

It's an FTP client and has a lot of really useful features other than just connecting to a server. There's no such thing as a professional and non-professional FTP client. If it has the features you need, then you use it. Almost every mac in our department has Transmit. There's arguably nothing better on the mac.

 

[SC68Cal]

Which is a sad state for the FTP application landscape for OS X, in my opinion.

I just want an FTP client. Not an FTP Client that just so happens to do all kinds of pointless crap.

Edit any remote file, in any app — even graphics!

Okay, right there. Stop. Right now. If I wanted to edit it, I would edit it and then upload it. You don't go to a barbershop to buy auto insurance, you don't use your FTP program to edit your files.

I don't know how Transmit allows you to edit remote files. Does it save a temporary file on your disk, then when you close it upload the changes? How do I know that it's secure? How do I know where you are putting it. Hello?

Auto-Permissions
Set permissions on upload, automatically

Okay, fixing the symptoms not the solution right there. Why are you fiddling with permissions once you've uploaded the files? Shouldn't this be taken care of before hand?

 

[RojoLeo]

Okay, right there. Stop. Right now.

You seem angry. Do you need a hug?

 

[arf]

Which is a sad state for the FTP application landscape for OS X, in my opinion.

I just want an FTP client. Not an FTP Client that just so happens to do all kinds of pointless crap.



Okay, right there. Stop. Right now. If I wanted to edit it, I would edit it and then upload it. You don't go to a barbershop to buy auto insurance, you don't use your FTP program to edit your files.

I don't know how Transmit allows you to edit remote files. Does it save a temporary file on your disk, then when you close it upload the changes? How do I know that it's secure? How do I know where you are putting it. Hello?



Okay, fixing the symptoms not the solution right there. Why are you fiddling with permissions once you've uploaded the files? Shouldn't this be taken care of before hand?

OK, so the thing is about Transmit is that it works pretty damn well and so I use it. When I say "I", that's me, a full time web developer working in a company with 35 other people who seem to get by very nicely with a mix of the following software....

Textmate
Transmit
svnX
CocoaMySQL
Terminal
Safari, Firefox etc.
Flash
Photoshop
Illustrator

Now must of us do know how to use the command line, I've probably had more ssh sessions than you've had hot dinners but what I find is that tools such as Textmate and Transmit work and work well and save me and the company time and that leaves me more time to think about my code and less time to thinking about what my perfect ftp app would look like.

 

[jbernie]

I agree with you.

We have some Macs for our Communications area, just not in IT. They had top of the line G5s, right before the Intels. It's a small private college, but I was surprised that they decked that department out, nice flat screen Apple displays also. I want a MacPro with about 4GB of ram. I'm not trying to compete against anyone, I just want a good computer that will last a bit.

The other thing to do is just go in and talk to the person who has to approve the purchase, talk to the about price limits and all that. Some open discussion can be quite useful, and noting some of the things said here, an Intel Mac can be quite useful for testing OSX/Windows and Linux, even if only to verify the page displays/functions as intended.

I got approval for our helpdesk to get non standard displays, showed my manager how I have to work with everything overlapped on out current 17" company standard LCDs, got approval for 22" widescreens for 8 people (2 not even hired) straight away. So it is only US$2600 total but it will make a significant change in how we can work.

Be open to compromise/discussion and always stay cool, civil discussions always go further

 

[nimbuscloud]

The other thing to do is just go in and talk to the person who has to approve the purchase, talk to the about price limits and all that. Some open discussion can be quite useful, and noting some of the things said here, an Intel Mac can be quite useful for testing OSX/Windows and Linux, even if only to verify the page displays/functions as intended.

I got approval for our helpdesk to get non standard displays, showed my manager how I have to work with everything overlapped on out current 17" company standard LCDs, got approval for 22" widescreens for 8 people (2 not even hired) straight away. So it is only US$2600 total but it will make a significant change in how we can work.

Be open to compromise/discussion and always stay cool, civil discussions always go further

Thanks for the info. And thanks for not arguing and for staying on topic.

 

[ezekielrage_99]

Please give me an example. What does "SWOT" mean?

Thanks for the great advice!

Edit: Just Googled SWOT, thanks again! But can you tell me some of the goodies that you told your boss, that is if you remember it.

SWOT is a STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES and THREATS diagram, basically you divide the page into 4 part and write down anything that comes to mind and put it under the relevant headings.

If done correctly (without emotional input) they will very accurately show if a project will be the right course of action.

I used them all the time when I was in my previous occupation, they really do make choosing products, projects, etc very easy.

 

[nimbuscloud]

SWOT is a STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES and THREATS diagram, basically you divide the page into 4 part and write down anything that comes to mind and put it under the relevant headings.

If done correctly (without emotional input) they will very accurately show if a project will be the right course of action.

I used them all the time when I was in my previous occupation, they really do make choosing products, projects, etc very easy.

I know some Strengths and Weaknesses...maybe few Opportunities, but what would be Threats? I can't think of a Threat, maybe I'm confusing it with a Weakness.

 

[jng]

I know some Strengths and Weaknesses...maybe few Opportunities, but what would be Threats? I can't think of a Threat, maybe I'm confusing it with a Weakness.

Maybe a threat could be a license issue? Initially it'd be a weakness, if you just have one mac. But as time goes on and you stay with one mac, and you have to purchase a separate license for it, it becomes not worth it? Generally it's cheaper (license wise) to have multiple machines.

Just a guess. I've never done a SWOT before. I'm an old fashioned pro/cons person.

 

[nimbuscloud]

Maybe a threat could be a license issue? Initially it'd be a weakness, if you just have one mac. But as time goes on and you stay with one mac, and you have to purchase a separate license for it, it becomes not worth it? Generally it's cheaper (license wise) to have multiple machines.

Just a guess. I've never done a SWOT before. I'm an old fashioned pro/cons person.

True. We have about 8 other Macs on campus, but you made a good point.

Thanks for the info.

 

[ezekielrage_99]

Maybe a threat could be a license issue? Initially it'd be a weakness, if you just have one mac. But as time goes on and you stay with one mac, and you have to purchase a separate license for it, it becomes not worth it? Generally it's cheaper (license wise) to have multiple machines.

Just a guess. I've never done a SWOT before. I'm an old fashioned pro/cons person.

SWOT diagrams are pretty much Pros vs Cons but it also adds the Opportunities (e.g. future developments) and Threats (e.g. competitions and other similar or more widely used systems).

There are similarities but it mainly adds 2 more catergories to work with .

 

[nimbuscloud]

Hey guys and gals.

I finally asked my boss about getting a Mac. What happened was that he wanted to ask me about making a virtual tour for the school website. I compared most ways to do it; 3D, VR, Flash, and HTML. He wanted to do something with video, but my weaksauce PC can't handle that...nor do we have editing software or a camera.

Luckily, I already had my proposal typed up encased in a clear-front folder. I told him that in order to do something like that...I will need a new computer. I then handed him the proposal. It was comprised of what I typed (current situation, recommendation, benefits, weaknesses, cost, and summary), a price quote for an iMac, a quote for a Mac Pro, a quote for Adobe CS3, and print out of the Macintosh on a Windows network PDF from Apple's site. He looked through it...I was kinda nervous when he got to the quotes, they were $2,500 and $3,600. He asked did I need both of them, lol. I said no, I just wanted to list options. He told me that we will talk about it Monday and to look at some prices for a camera.

Things went kinda positive IMO. He didn't shoot it down. I guess he may be a bit more open because I showed him my iPhone and he thought that it was an awesome device. So awesome, that he wanted to try to get it working on our network...pretty cool of an IT CIO.

I'll look into some good video cameras, but he still wants me to keep him updated on the iPhone's Exchange email situation.

All in all, I'm happy that I did it. Hopefully, I'll get one of those Macs. I just wanted to thank all of you people who gave me the idea to do it. Thanks a bunch!

 

[fingers]

I'll look into some good video cameras, but he still wants me to keep him updated on the iPhone's Exchange email situation.

All in all, I'm happy that I did it. Hopefully, I'll get one of those Macs. I just wanted to thank all of you people who gave me the idea to do it. Thanks a bunch!

Well done Sir, hopefully the video capabilities of the Mac platform will swing it for you!
BTW, I read somewhere about a 3rd party developer adding support for Exchange for the iPhone, can't remember where, but might be worth a search.

 

[RojoLeo]

BTW, I read somewhere about a 3rd party developer adding support for Exchange for the iPhone, can't remember where, but might be worth a search.

https://www.macrumors.com/2007/07/01/exchange-support-for-the-iphone-q3-2007/